| 21. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Neutrino oscillation studies with IceCube-DeepCore
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nuclear Physics B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0550-3213 .- 1873-1562. ; 908, s. 161-177
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IceCube, a gigaton-scale neutrino detector located at the South Pole, was primarily designed to search for astrophysical neutrinos with energies of PeV and higher. This goal has been achieved with the detection of the highest energy neutrinos to date. At the other end of the energy spectrum, the DeepCore extension lowers the energy threshold of the detector to approximately 10 GeV and opens the door for oscillation studies using atmospheric neutrinos. An analysis of the disappearance of these neutrinos has been completed, with the results produced being complementary with dedicated oscillation experiments. Following a review of the detector principle and performance, the method used to make these calculations, as well as the results, is detailed. Finally, the future prospects of IceCube-DeepCore and the next generation of neutrino experiments at the South Pole (IceCube-Gen2, specifically the PINGU sub-detector) are briefly discussed.
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| 22. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Search for astrophysical tau neutrinos in three years of IceCube data
- 2016
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Ingår i: Physical Review D. - 1550-7998 .- 1550-2368. ; 93:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has observed a diffuse flux of TeV-PeVastrophysical neutrinos at 5.7 sigma significance from an all-flavor search. The direct detection of tau neutrinos in this flux has yet to occur. Tau neutrinos become distinguishable from other flavors in IceCube at energies above a few hundred TeV, when the cascade from the tau neutrino charged current interaction becomes resolvable from the cascade from the tau lepton decay. This paper presents results from the first dedicated search for tau neutrinos with energies between 214 TeV and 72 PeV in the full IceCube detector. The analysis searches for IceCube optical sensors that observe two separate pulses in a single event-one from the tau neutrino interaction and a second from the tau decay. No candidate events were observed in three years of IceCube data. For the first time, a differential upper limit on astrophysical tau neutrinos is derived around the PeV energy region, which is nearly 3 orders of magnitude lower in energy than previous limits from dedicated tau neutrino searches.
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| 23. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Searches for relativistic magnetic monopoles in IceCube
- 2016
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 76:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Various extensions of the Standard Model motivate the existence of stable magnetic monopoles that could have been created during an early high-energy epoch of the Universe. These primordial magnetic monopoles would be gradually accelerated by cosmic magnetic fields and could reach high velocities that make them visible in Cherenkov detectors such as IceCube. Equivalently to electrically charged particles, magnetic monopoles produce direct and indirect Cherenkov light while traversing through matter at relativistic velocities. This paper describes searches for relativistic (nu >= 0.76 c) and mildly relativistic (nu >= 0.51 c) monopoles, each using one year of data taken in 2008/2009 and 2011/2012, respectively. No monopole candidate was detected. For a velocity above 0.51 c the monopole flux is constrained down to a level of 1.55 x 10(-18) cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). This is an improvement of almost two orders of magnitude over previous limits.
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| 24. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore
- 2016
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Ingår i: European Physical Journal C. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6044 .- 1434-6052. ; 76:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011-2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, , for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on , reaching a level of 10 cm s, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube.
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| 25. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Lowering Icecube'S Energy Threshold For Point Source Searches In The Southern Sky
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 824:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observation of a point source of astrophysical neutrinos would be a "smoking gun" signature of a cosmic-ray accelerator. While IceCube has recently discovered a diffuse flux of astrophysical neutrinos, no localized point source has been observed. Previous IceCube searches for point sources in the southern sky were restricted by either an energy threshold above a few hundred TeV or poor neutrino angular resolution. Here we present a search for southern sky point sources with greatly improved sensitivities to neutrinos with energies below 100 TeV. By selecting charged-current nu(mu) interacting inside the detector, we reduce the atmospheric background while retaining efficiency for astrophysical neutrino-induced events reconstructed with sub-degree angular resolution. The new event sample covers three years of detector data and leads to a factor of 10 improvement in sensitivity to point sources emitting below 100 TeV in the southern sky. No statistically significant evidence of point sources was found, and upper limits are set on neutrino emission from individual sources. A posteriori analysis of the highest-energy (similar to 100 TeV) starting event in the sample found that this event alone represents a 2.8 sigma deviation from the hypothesis that the data consists only of atmospheric background.
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| 26. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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The Contribution Of Fermi-2Lac Blazars To Diffuse Tev-Pev Neutrino Flux
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 835:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recent discovery of a diffuse cosmic neutrino flux extending up to PeV energies raises the question of which astrophysical sources generate this signal. Blazars are one class of extragalactic sources which may produce such high-energy neutrinos. We present a likelihood analysis searching for cumulative neutrino emission from blazars in the 2nd Fermi-LAT AGN catalog (2LAC) using IceCube neutrino data set 2009-12, which was optimized for the detection of individual sources. In contrast to those in previous searches with IceCube, the populations investigated contain up to hundreds of sources, the largest one being the entire blazar sample in the 2LAC catalog. No significant excess is observed, and upper limits for the cumulative flux from these populations are obtained. These constrain the maximum contribution of 2LAC blazars to the observed astrophysical neutrino flux to 27% or less between around 10 TeV and 2 PeV, assuming the equipartition of flavors on Earth and a single power-law spectrum with a spectral index of -2.5. We can still exclude the fact that 2LAC blazars (and their subpopulations) emit more than 50% of the observed neutrinos up to a spectral index as hard as -2.2 in the same energy range. Our result takes into account the fact that the neutrino source count distribution is unknown, and it does not assume strict proportionality of the neutrino flux to the measured 2LAC gamma-ray signal for each source. Additionally, we constrain recent models for neutrino emission by blazars.
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| 27. |
- Aartsen, M. G., et al.
(författare)
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Searches for Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Detector
- 2016
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 0031-9007 .- 1079-7114. ; 117:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole has measured the atmospheric muon neutrino spectrum as a function of zenith angle and energy in the approximate 320 GeV to 20 TeV range, to search for the oscillation signatures of light sterile neutrinos. No evidence for anomalous nu(mu) or (nu) over bar (mu) disappearance is observed in either of two independently developed analyses, each using one year of atmospheric neutrino data. New exclusion limits are placed on the parameter space of the 3 + 1 model, in which muon antineutrinos experience a strong Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein-resonant oscillation. The exclusion limits extend to sin(2)2 theta(24) <= 0.02 at Delta m(2) similar to 0.3 eV(2) at the 90% confidence level. The allowed region from global analysis of appearance experiments, including LSND and MiniBooNE, is excluded at approximately the 99% confidence level for the global best-fit value of vertical bar U-e4 vertical bar(2).
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| 28. |
- Galluccio, L., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: Reflectance spectra of Solar System small bodies
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The Gaia mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) has been routinely observing Solar System objects (SSOs) since the beginning of its operations in August 2014. The Gaia data release three (DR3) includes, for the first time, the mean reflectance spectra of a selected sample of 60 518 SSOs, primarily asteroids, observed between August 5, 2014, and May 28, 2017. Each reflectance spectrum was derived from measurements obtained by means of the Blue and Red photometers (BP/RP), which were binned in 16 discrete wavelength bands. For every spectrum, the DR3 also contains additional information about the data quality for each band.Aims. We describe the processing of the Gaia spectral data of SSOs, explaining both the criteria used to select the subset of asteroid spectra published in Gaia DR3, and the different steps of our internal validation procedures. In order to further assess the quality of Gaia SSO reflectance spectra, we carried out external validation against SSO reflectance spectra obtained from ground-based and space-borne telescopes and available in the literature; we present our validation approach.Methods. For each selected SSO, an epoch reflectance was computed by dividing the calibrated spectrum observed by the BP/RP at each transit on the focal plane by the mean spectrum of a solar analogue. The latter was obtained by averaging the Gaia spectral measurements of a selected sample of stars known to have very similar spectra to that of the Sun. Finally, a mean of the epoch reflectance spectra was calculated in 16 spectral bands for each SSO.Results. Gaia SSO reflectance spectra are in general agreement with those obtained from a ground-based spectroscopic campaign specifically designed to cover the same spectral interval as Gaia and mimic the illumination and observing geometry characterising Gaia SSO observations. In addition, the agreement between Gaia mean reflectance spectra and those available in the literature is good for bright SSOs, regardless of their taxonomic spectral class. We identify an increase in the spectral slope of S-type SSOs with increasing phase angle. Moreover, we show that the spectral slope increases and the depth of the 1 μm absorption band decreases for increasing ages of S-type asteroid families. The latter can be interpreted as proof of progressive ageing of S-type asteroid surfaces due to their exposure to space weathering effects.
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| 29. |
- Drimmel, R., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Data Release 3: Mapping the asymmetric disc of the Milky Way
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 674
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. With the most recent Gaia data release, the number of sources with complete 6D phase space information (position and velocity) has increased to well over 33 million stars, while stellar astrophysical parameters are provided for more than 470 million sources, and more than 11 million variable stars are identified.Aims. Using the astrophysical parameters and variability classifications provided in Gaia DR3, we selected various stellar populations to explore and identify non-axisymmetric features in the disc of the Milky Way in configuration and velocity space.Methods. Using more about 580 000 sources identified as hot OB stars, together with 988 known open clusters younger than 100 Myr, we mapped the spiral structure associated with star formation 4−5 kpc from the Sun. We selected over 2800 Classical Cepheids younger than 200 Myr that show spiral features extending as far as 10 kpc from the Sun in the outer disc. We also identified more than 8.7 million sources on the red giant branch (RGB), of which 5.7 million have line-of-sight velocities. This later sample allows the velocity field of the Milky Way to be mapped as far as 8 kpc from the Sun, including the inner disc.Results. The spiral structure revealed by the young populations is consistent with recent results using Gaia EDR3 astrometry and source lists based on near-infrared photometry, showing the Local (Orion) Arm to be at least 8 kpc long, and an outer arm consistent with what is seen in HI surveys, which seems to be a continuation of the Perseus arm into the third quadrant. The subset of RGB stars with velocities clearly reveals the large-scale kinematic signature of the bar in the inner disc, as well as evidence of streaming motions in the outer disc that might be associated with spiral arms or bar resonances. A local comparison of the velocity field of the OB stars reveals similarities and differences with the RGB sample.Conclusions. This cursory study of Gaia DR3 data shows there is a rich bounty of kinematic information to be explored more deeply, which will undoubtedly lead us to a clearer understanding of the dynamical nature of the non-axisymmetric structures of the Milky Way.
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| 30. |
- Klioner, S. A., et al.
(författare)
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Gaia Early Data Release 3: The celestial reference frame (Gaia-CRF3)
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Gaia-CRF3 is the celestial reference frame for positions and proper motions in the third release of data from the Gaia mission, Gaia DR3 (and for the early third release, Gaia EDR3, which contains identical astrometric results). The reference frame is defined by the positions and proper motions at epoch 2016.0 for a specific set of extragalactic sources in the (E)DR3 catalogue.Aims. We describe the construction of Gaia-CRF3 and its properties in terms of the distributions in magnitude, colour, and astrometric quality.Methods. Compact extragalactic sources in Gaia DR3 were identified by positional cross-matching with 17 external catalogues of quasi-stellar objects (QSO) and active galactic nuclei (AGN), followed by astrometric filtering designed to remove stellar contaminants. Selecting a clean sample was favoured over including a higher number of extragalactic sources. For the final sample, the random and systematic errors in the proper motions are analysed, as well as the radio-optical offsets in position for sources in the third realisation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3).Results. Gaia-CRF3 comprises about 1.6 million QSO-like sources, of which 1.2 million have five-parameter astrometric solutions in Gaia DR3 and 0.4 million have six-parameter solutions. The sources span the magnitude range G = 13-21 with a peak density at 20.6 mag, at which the typical positional uncertainty is about 1 mas. The proper motions show systematic errors on the level of 12 μas yr-1 on angular scales greater than 15 deg. For the 3142 optical counterparts of ICRF3 sources in the S/X frequency bands, the median offset from the radio positions is about 0.5 mas, but it exceeds 4 mas in either coordinate for 127 sources. We outline the future of Gaia-CRF in the next Gaia data releases. Appendices give further details on the external catalogues used, how to extract information about the Gaia-CRF3 sources, potential (Galactic) confusion sources, and the estimation of the spin and orientation of an astrometric solution.
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